Good Evening Arizona
Patty: In tonight’s ‘Healthy Life’, gum disease, you may have it and not even know it. Beverly Kidd has more on a breakthrough technology that can make your next visit to the dentist less painful.
B.K.: That would be nice wouldn’t it Patty. 68% of us have gum disease. Now there is a new laser promising to help fix the problem and make it more bearable.
Goes to Interview with Pamela Dahlmeier
Pam: It’s been coming and going to about a year. Um, we talked about this procedure about a year ago. Things progressed now to the point where I’ve got 50% bone loss.
B.K: Like millions of people, Pamela Dahlmeirstarted experiencing pain from the periodontal gum disease. It got so bad; her dentist said she would eventually start losing her teeth.
Goes to interview with Dr. Bruce Nelson.
Dr: they had been trying to get her to treat her gum disease in the conventional manner. And now we have the option of treating it with the laser, and she thinks that sounds like a lot better idea.
B.K.: Dr. Bruce Nelson says that people like Pamela had shied away from traditional gum surgery because the procedure is often very invasive and recovery can be painful.
Dr: Conventional surgery you’re taking a scalpel, you’re cutting the gum tissue away from the tooth, you’re removing gum tissue off the surface of the bone and you’re suturing the gum tissue back together. I’ve had a number of my patients that have gum in for laser periodontal therapy that have basically come in as a last resort because if the laser wasn’t going to work for them they were going to have their teeth pulled before they had conventional gum surgery again.
B.K.: Dr. Nelson is one of the 150 dentists in the U.S. using the Periolase procedure. It’s a tiny laser that does all the work, zapping away the infection.
Dr: The laser goes into the pocket and it doesn’t make the incision. It basically vaporizes the pocket lining. The laser very selectively removes the disease inner lining of the tissue but leaves the connective tissue.
B.K.: Dr. Nelson says the laser helps the tissue grow back on the bone which in turn speeds up healing. It takes 2 hours on each side and we’re told the pain is minimal.
Pamela: I just feel very fortunate that my dentist happens to be one that is able to do this procedure and has introduced me to it.
Dr: When I see the smiles on people’s faces that have had it treated this way, that are happy, they’re not having any discomfort, they’re going back to work, they you know come in and they really thank me a lot for having it done they’re really so happy they did it.
B.K.: And Dr. Nelson says he expects more dentists will start using the procedure within the next few years Patty.
Patty: Whatever works and makes it less painful.
B.K.: yeah…
Patty: Thank you very much
